AV-Test Certification Results Show Improvement

[Note: As originally posted this article mistakenly stated that Emsisoft and Qihoo did not participate in the previous test. Thanks to Andreas Marx of AV-Test for pointing out this error.]

Every two months German test lab AV-Test.org updates the results of certification tests for consumer anti-malware products. The test platforms cycle between Windows 7, Vista, and XP. In this latest round of testing, performed under Windows XP, half of the products tested performed better than in the previous XP certification test.

This test looks at three areas of real-world dynamic antivirus protection. Products are rated on how well they clean up an existing malware infestation and how thoroughly they resist new malware attacks, along with a rating on overall usability. In each category a product can earn up to 6 points. Certification requires a total of 11 out of a possible 18.

In the previous test Bitdefender Total Security 2012 scored 17 points, the top score of all. This time it only attained 16 points, but it's still at the top. BullGuard, ESET, Kaspersky, and Panda all scored slightly lower. Norman sank from 9 points to 7.5, even farther from certification.

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